Nassiriya’s 1st cultural festival opens

THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: Nassiriya’s first cultural festival opened on Thursday in cooperation with the artists’ syndicate in Thi-Qar province. “The office of the Italian cultural attaché organized the festival in cooperation with the artists’ syndicate in Thi-Qar to promote artistic activities and to open new horizons,” the head of the Local Governance Program (LGP), Anna Prouse, told IraqiNews.com. Thi-Qar, 380 km south of Baghdad, has an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. SS (P) 1